[105th Congress Public Law 352]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
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[DOCID: f:publ352.105]
[[Page 3221]]
FALL RIVER WATER USERS DISTRICT RURAL WATER SYSTEM ACT OF 1998
[[Page 112 STAT. 3222]]
Public Law 105-352
105th Congress
An Act
To authorize the construction of the Fall River Water Users District
Rural Water System and authorize financial assistance to the Fall River
Water Users District, a nonprofit corporation, in the planning and
construction of the water supply system, and for other <<NOTE: Nov. 3,
1998 - [S. 744]>> purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress <<NOTE: Fall River Water Users
District Rural Water System Act of 1998.>> assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Fall River Water Users District Rural
Water System Act of 1998''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
(1) <<NOTE: South Dakota.>> there are insufficient water
supplies of reasonable quality available to the members of the
Fall River Water Users District Rural Water System located in
Fall River County, South Dakota, and the water supplies that are
available are of poor quality and do not meet minimum health and
safety standards, thereby posing a threat to public health and
safety;
(2) past cycles of severe drought in the southeastern area
of Fall River County have left residents without a satisfactory
water supply, and, during 1990, many home owners and ranchers
were forced to haul water to sustain their water needs;
(3) because of the poor quality of water supplies, most
members of the Fall River Water Users District are forced to
either haul bottled water for human consumption or use
distillers;
(4) the Fall River Water Users District Rural Water System
has been recognized by the State of South Dakota; and
(5) the best available, reliable, and safe rural and
municipal water supply to serve the needs of the Fall River
Water Users District Rural Water System members consists of a
Madison Aquifer well, 3 separate water storage reservoirs, 3
pumping stations, and approximately 200 miles of pipeline.
(b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to ensure a safe and adequate municipal, rural, and
industrial water supply for the members of the Fall River Water
Users District Rural Water System in Fall River County, South
Dakota;
(2) to assist the members of the Fall River Water Users
District in developing safe and adequate municipal, rural, and
industrial water supplies; and
[[Page 112 STAT. 3223]]
(3) to promote the implementation of water conservation
programs by the Fall River Water Users District Rural Water
System.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Engineering report.--The term ``engineering report''
means the study entitled ``Supplemental Preliminary Engineering
Report for Fall River Water Users District'' published in August
1995.
(2) Project construction budget.--The term ``project
construction budget'' means the description of the total amount
of funds that are needed for the construction of the water
supply system, as described in the engineering report.
(3) Pumping and incidental operational requirements.--The
term ``pumping and incidental operational requirements'' means
all power requirements that are incidental to the operation of
intake facilities, pumping stations, water treatment facilities,
cooling facilities, reservoirs, and pipelines to the point of
delivery of water by the Fall River Water Users District Rural
Water System to each entity that distributes water at retail to
individual users.
(4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Agriculture.
(5) Water supply system.--The term ``water supply system''
means the Fall River Water Users District Rural Water System, a
nonprofit corporation, established and operated substantially in
accordance with the engineering report.
SEC. 4. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM.
(a) In General.--The <<NOTE: Grants.>> Secretary shall make grants
to the water supply system for the Federal share of the costs of the
planning and construction of the water supply system.
(b) Service Area.--The water supply system shall provide for safe
and adequate municipal, rural, and industrial water supplies, mitigation
of wetlands areas, and water conservation within the boundaries of the
Fall River Water Users District, described as follows: <<NOTE: South
Dakota. Nebraska.>> bounded on the north by the Angostura Reservoir, the
Cheyenne River, and the line between Fall River and Custer Counties,
bounded on the east by the line between Fall River and Shannon Counties,
bounded on the south by the line between South Dakota and Nebraska, and
bounded on the west by the Igloo-Provo Water Project District.
(c) Amount of Grants.--Grants made available under subsection (a) to
the water supply system shall not exceed the Federal share under section
9.
(d) Limitation on Availability of Construction Funds.--The Secretary
shall not obligate funds for the construction of the water supply system
until--
(1) the requirements of the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) are met with respect to the
water supply system; and
(2) a final engineering report and plan for a water
conservation program have been prepared and submitted to
Congress for a period of not less than 90 days before the
commencement of construction of the system.
[[Page 112 STAT. 3224]]
SEC. 5. MITIGATION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE LOSSES.
Mitigation of fish and wildlife losses incurred as a result of the
construction and operation of the water supply system shall be on an
acre-for-acre basis, based on ecological equivalency, concurrent with
project construction, as provided in the engineering report.
SEC. 6. USE OF PICK-SLOAN POWER.
(a) In General.--From power designated for future irrigation and
drainage pumping for the Pick-Sloan Missouri River Basin Program, the
Western Area Power Administration shall make available the capacity and
energy required to meet the pumping and incidental operational
requirements of the water supply system during the period beginning May
1 and ending October 31 of each year.
(b) Conditions.--The capacity and energy described in subsection (a)
shall be made available on the following conditions:
(1) The water supply system shall be operated on a not-for-
profit basis.
(2) The water supply system shall contract to purchase its
entire electric service requirements, including the capacity and
energy made available under subsection (a), from a qualified
preference power supplier that itself purchases power from the
Western Area Power Administration.
(3) The rate schedule applicable to the capacity and energy
made available under subsection (a) shall be the firm power rate
schedule of the Pick-Sloan Eastern Division of the Western Area
Power Administration in effect when the power is delivered by
the Administration.
(4) It shall be agreed by contract among--
(A) the Western Area Power Administration;
(B) the power supplier with which the water supply
system contracts under paragraph (2);
(C) the power supplier of the entity described in
subparagraph (B); and
(D) the Fall River Water Users District;
that in the case of the capacity and energy made available
under subsection (a), the benefit of the rate schedule described
in paragraph (3) shall be passed through to the water supply
system, except that the power supplier of the water supply
system shall not be precluded from including, in the charges of
the supplier to the water system for the electric service, the
other usual and customary charges of the supplier.
SEC. 7. NO LIMITATION ON WATER PROJECTS IN STATE.
This Act does not limit the authorization for water projects in
South Dakota under law in effect on or after the date of enactment of
this Act.
SEC. 8. WATER RIGHTS.
Nothing in this Act--
(1) invalidates or preempts State water law or an interstate
compact governing water;
(2) alters the rights of any State to any appropriated share
of the waters of any body of surface or ground water, whether
determined by past or future interstate compacts or by past or
future legislative or final judicial allocations;
(3) preempts or modifies any Federal or State law, or
interstate compact, dealing with water quality or disposal; or
[[Page 112 STAT. 3225]]
(4) confers on any non-Federal entity the ability to
exercise any Federal right to the waters of any stream or to any
ground water resource.
SEC. 9. FEDERAL SHARE.
The Federal share under section 4 shall be 70 percent of--
(1) the amount allocated in the total project construction
budget for the planning and construction of the water supply
system under section 4; and
(2) such sums as are necessary to defray increases in
development costs reflected in appropriate engineering cost
indices after August 1, 1995.
SEC. 10. NON-FEDERAL SHARE.
The non-Federal share under section 4 shall be 30 percent of--
(1) the amount allocated in the total project construction
budget for the planning and construction of the water supply
system under section 4; and
(2) such sums as are necessary to defray increases in
development costs reflected in appropriate engineering cost
indices after August 1, 1995.
SEC. 11. CONSTRUCTION OVERSIGHT.
(a) Authorization.--The Secretary of the Interior, acting through
the Director of the Bureau of Reclamation, may provide construction
oversight to the water supply system for areas of the water supply
system.
(b) Project Oversight Administration.--The amount of funds used by
the Secretary for planning and construction of the water supply system
may not exceed an amount equal to 3 percent of the amount provided in
the total project construction budget for the portion of the project to
be constructed in Fall River County, South Dakota.
SEC. 12. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated--
(1) $3,600,000 for the planning and construction of the
water system under section 4; and
[[Page 112 STAT. 3226]]
(2) such sums as are necessary to defray increases in
development costs reflected in appropriate engineering cost
indices after August 1, 1995.
Approved November 3, 1998.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--S. 744:
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SENATE REPORTS: No. 105-369 (Comm. on Energy and Natural Resources).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 144 (1998):
Oct. 7, considered and passed Senate.
Oct. 12, considered and passed House.
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